Faulkner
Member
One morning a few weeks ago Daisy and I were on our way to town on my day off to pick up some supplies when my cell phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was the sheriff’s office dispatch number.
“Hello.”
“Hey Faulkner, this is dispatch. Sorry to bother you on your day off.”
“No problem, what’s up?”
“We’re about to issue an Amber Alert on a lost child last seen up around Simpson Creek campground. A four year old boy that may have wondered off from his parents but you never know. Thought I’d give you a heads up since you are pretty familiar with that area.”
“Okay,” I said, “just so happens that Daisy and I are on our way to town and we’re not 10 minutes from the campground so we will swing by there. Are there any other units on scene?”
I could hear the keyboard clicking in the background as she replied, “yeah, Unit 16 is on scene and another on the way. Also a Game & Fish officer and some volunteer firefighters are in route.”
“Okay, good. I’ll turn my handheld on in a minute and check in with you but go ahead and show me in route.”
“10-4, will do. Thanks,” she said and disconnected.
I drove on down the state highway a couple of miles to the turn off to the campground. It would be another mile and a half or so down a dirt road. As I turned onto the dirt road I saw a green Game & Fish pickup coming from the opposite direction and pull in behind me. Once I pulled into the campground I saw two marked sheriff patrol cars and a rescue squad vehicle from the local fire department already on scene.
I had pulled my handheld radio out of my go bag, turned it on and keyed the mic, “Unit 4 to S.O., show me on scene at Simpson Creek campground.”
“10-4 Unit 4”
I stepped out of my pickup and walked over to where Unit 16, Deputy Collins, was standing over a picnic table with a couple other guys looking at a map spread out on the table. The Game & Fish officer had parked his rig next to mine and walked up with me.
Collins looked up and acknowledged us with a nod and I asked, “what’s the situation?”
He put his finger on a spot on a park map and said, “a family from out of state is camping here with their 4 year old son. He had been playing in this creek here that empties into Simpson Creek near this little bridge.” I was familiar with the bridge, it was really more like several culverts side by side with the road built over them than a true bridge. “The boy wasn’t but about 40 yards from their camp playing near the stream as they were cleaning up from breakfast. Mom turned to check on him and he wasn’t there so they got to calling for him but didn't get an answer. They started looking for him and after a few minutes panic set in when they couldn’t locate him so they called 911.”
“How long has he been missing?” asked the Game & Fish officer.
Collins looked at his watch, “about an hour and 15 minutes. Now that we’re starting to get help on scene I have search assignments we need to start on right now.” He traced out several lines on the map. “Starting from the bridge, one team needs to go upstream, one team goes downstream. I also need a team going east on the two track road that goes over the creek, and one going west. The parents said they checked with the other campers in the campground, but I’m going to have a deputy do that again.” He looked over at me and said, “do you want to take over incident command?”
I shook my head. “No, you’ve got it under control. I’ve got Daisy with me, she’s not a tracking dog but we’ve had experience locating people before. I’ll take her to the culverts and we’ll check those out and then we’ll go search the creek downstream.” I looked up in the sky and said, “I know its broad daylight but make sure everyone has a flashlight. There’s no telling what kind of holes or culvert you’ll have to look in.”
Collins started doling out assignments and I turned and headed back to my truck to get Daisy and I geared up. As I was getting ready I saw a few more searchers show up including a state trooper and a couple more volunteer firemen. That’s one of the things I appreciate about our community, when someone needs help folks turn out to help them.
I grabbed my ruck pack out of the back seat of my truck that should have everything we need for a day hike. In all transparency at this point, we didn't really know if we were doing a search & rescue, an abduction, or a recovery. We just didn’t yet have any evidence indicating what might have happened to the little fellow. I opened Daisy’s carrier to let her out on the tailgate and was putting on her leash vest when one of the volunteer firefighters same up to me. “Hey Faulkner,” he said as he stuck out his hand, “Deputy Collins said for me to partner with you.”
I returned the handshake. “Hey Dale, glad to have you with us.” Dale is a good guy, we’ve been on many accident scenes together. I’m not sure what he does in his day job, but he does a great job on the fire department. Once I got Daisy geared up I snapped on her leash and we headed off towards the culverts.
As I mentioned before, Daisy is no tracker, but she is good with kids and I have no doubt that once we got out snooping around the creek if she were to come upon the boy she would alert me. I was also pretty confident that if she came upon something, ah, unexpected, she would alert me to that too. When we got to the culverts I took Daisy off the leash and said, “Daisy, let’s go in the water.” She immediately took off towards the culverts and down into the streambed. This was nothing new for her as I take her to the creek near our home often and she explores in and around the culverts there, often wading through the culverts and coming out the other side. This was no different for her, just a new place to explore. Since I had put on my Muck boots, I stepped down in the creek with her and waded out in the water and squatted to shine my light inside the culverts. One by one Daisy ventured into them sniffing around. The two outside culverts where about ¾ full of muck in the middle and she couldn’t go all the way through, but the middle one she went all the way through and came out the other side where another search team was just starting, going the other direction. I called for Daisy and she came barreling over the top of the bridge back to our side and jumped back in the stream.
I had changed my radio channel to the local search frequency and keyed the mic, “Unit 4 to CP, the culverts are clear on the downstream side.” Almost immediately I heard a reply from the other team, “the culverts are clear on the upstream side.”
I asked Dale to take one side of the stream and I’d take the other side, while Daisy checked out the streambed. We had worked our way about a quarter mile downstream when I heard my radio crackle with a call . . . “we have him. He’s upstream from the culverts and he’s okay!” Both Dale and I did a fist pump in the air.
“Come on Daisy, let’s go back to the truck!”
A couple of days later I received an email from Dale saying he'd enjoyed working with me on the search & rescue and even though we weren't the ones who had found the boy it was a great feeling being a part of the search. He also enclosed a few pictures he'd taken of Daisy that day too.
“Hello.”
“Hey Faulkner, this is dispatch. Sorry to bother you on your day off.”
“No problem, what’s up?”
“We’re about to issue an Amber Alert on a lost child last seen up around Simpson Creek campground. A four year old boy that may have wondered off from his parents but you never know. Thought I’d give you a heads up since you are pretty familiar with that area.”
“Okay,” I said, “just so happens that Daisy and I are on our way to town and we’re not 10 minutes from the campground so we will swing by there. Are there any other units on scene?”
I could hear the keyboard clicking in the background as she replied, “yeah, Unit 16 is on scene and another on the way. Also a Game & Fish officer and some volunteer firefighters are in route.”
“Okay, good. I’ll turn my handheld on in a minute and check in with you but go ahead and show me in route.”
“10-4, will do. Thanks,” she said and disconnected.
I drove on down the state highway a couple of miles to the turn off to the campground. It would be another mile and a half or so down a dirt road. As I turned onto the dirt road I saw a green Game & Fish pickup coming from the opposite direction and pull in behind me. Once I pulled into the campground I saw two marked sheriff patrol cars and a rescue squad vehicle from the local fire department already on scene.
I had pulled my handheld radio out of my go bag, turned it on and keyed the mic, “Unit 4 to S.O., show me on scene at Simpson Creek campground.”
“10-4 Unit 4”
I stepped out of my pickup and walked over to where Unit 16, Deputy Collins, was standing over a picnic table with a couple other guys looking at a map spread out on the table. The Game & Fish officer had parked his rig next to mine and walked up with me.
Collins looked up and acknowledged us with a nod and I asked, “what’s the situation?”
He put his finger on a spot on a park map and said, “a family from out of state is camping here with their 4 year old son. He had been playing in this creek here that empties into Simpson Creek near this little bridge.” I was familiar with the bridge, it was really more like several culverts side by side with the road built over them than a true bridge. “The boy wasn’t but about 40 yards from their camp playing near the stream as they were cleaning up from breakfast. Mom turned to check on him and he wasn’t there so they got to calling for him but didn't get an answer. They started looking for him and after a few minutes panic set in when they couldn’t locate him so they called 911.”
“How long has he been missing?” asked the Game & Fish officer.
Collins looked at his watch, “about an hour and 15 minutes. Now that we’re starting to get help on scene I have search assignments we need to start on right now.” He traced out several lines on the map. “Starting from the bridge, one team needs to go upstream, one team goes downstream. I also need a team going east on the two track road that goes over the creek, and one going west. The parents said they checked with the other campers in the campground, but I’m going to have a deputy do that again.” He looked over at me and said, “do you want to take over incident command?”
I shook my head. “No, you’ve got it under control. I’ve got Daisy with me, she’s not a tracking dog but we’ve had experience locating people before. I’ll take her to the culverts and we’ll check those out and then we’ll go search the creek downstream.” I looked up in the sky and said, “I know its broad daylight but make sure everyone has a flashlight. There’s no telling what kind of holes or culvert you’ll have to look in.”
Collins started doling out assignments and I turned and headed back to my truck to get Daisy and I geared up. As I was getting ready I saw a few more searchers show up including a state trooper and a couple more volunteer firemen. That’s one of the things I appreciate about our community, when someone needs help folks turn out to help them.
I grabbed my ruck pack out of the back seat of my truck that should have everything we need for a day hike. In all transparency at this point, we didn't really know if we were doing a search & rescue, an abduction, or a recovery. We just didn’t yet have any evidence indicating what might have happened to the little fellow. I opened Daisy’s carrier to let her out on the tailgate and was putting on her leash vest when one of the volunteer firefighters same up to me. “Hey Faulkner,” he said as he stuck out his hand, “Deputy Collins said for me to partner with you.”
I returned the handshake. “Hey Dale, glad to have you with us.” Dale is a good guy, we’ve been on many accident scenes together. I’m not sure what he does in his day job, but he does a great job on the fire department. Once I got Daisy geared up I snapped on her leash and we headed off towards the culverts.
As I mentioned before, Daisy is no tracker, but she is good with kids and I have no doubt that once we got out snooping around the creek if she were to come upon the boy she would alert me. I was also pretty confident that if she came upon something, ah, unexpected, she would alert me to that too. When we got to the culverts I took Daisy off the leash and said, “Daisy, let’s go in the water.” She immediately took off towards the culverts and down into the streambed. This was nothing new for her as I take her to the creek near our home often and she explores in and around the culverts there, often wading through the culverts and coming out the other side. This was no different for her, just a new place to explore. Since I had put on my Muck boots, I stepped down in the creek with her and waded out in the water and squatted to shine my light inside the culverts. One by one Daisy ventured into them sniffing around. The two outside culverts where about ¾ full of muck in the middle and she couldn’t go all the way through, but the middle one she went all the way through and came out the other side where another search team was just starting, going the other direction. I called for Daisy and she came barreling over the top of the bridge back to our side and jumped back in the stream.
I had changed my radio channel to the local search frequency and keyed the mic, “Unit 4 to CP, the culverts are clear on the downstream side.” Almost immediately I heard a reply from the other team, “the culverts are clear on the upstream side.”
I asked Dale to take one side of the stream and I’d take the other side, while Daisy checked out the streambed. We had worked our way about a quarter mile downstream when I heard my radio crackle with a call . . . “we have him. He’s upstream from the culverts and he’s okay!” Both Dale and I did a fist pump in the air.
“Come on Daisy, let’s go back to the truck!”
A couple of days later I received an email from Dale saying he'd enjoyed working with me on the search & rescue and even though we weren't the ones who had found the boy it was a great feeling being a part of the search. He also enclosed a few pictures he'd taken of Daisy that day too.
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. Thank you for what you do!
